This privacy notice is addressed to players who are, or have been, ranked by OWGR (referred to as “you” or “players”). Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy outlines how OWGR collects, uses and protects information about players. Players’ personal data will only be used in accordance with this privacy policy and relevant legislation.
We have a separate website privacy policy that you should refer to if you are a user of our Website.
Who are we?
In this policy, when we say “we”, “our” or “us” or “OWGR” we are referring to Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), a company incorporated in England.
For the purposes of data protection legislation in the EU and UK, OWGR is a controller, being the organisation that is responsible for, and controls the processing of, your personal data.
You will find our contact details at the bottom of this page. You can contact us by using the Contact Form https://www.owgr.com/contact-us on our Website or by writing to us. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions regarding this policy or about our privacy practices.
About this privacy policy
This privacy policy explains how we use your personal data in connection with OWGR and our website at www.owgr.com (the “Website”).
OWGR ranks golfers around the world based on the relative performances of players participating in Eligible Golf Tour events. This ranking is calculated in accordance with the rules established by OWGR’s Governing Board. Details of those rules can be found in the How the Ranking Works section of this Website.
In order to calculate such ranking, information about the players taking part in events and the scores that they achieve in such events are provided by the Eligible Golf Tours. This information is not submitted through the Website but is supplied directly by the Eligible Golf Tour events.
We keep our privacy policy under regular review and we will place any updates on this webpage. You should check this policy regularly to ensure you are aware of the most recent version.
This privacy policy was last updated in [February 2023].
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data is not accurate.
What personal data do we collect?
Personal data of OWGR players
As an OWGR player, we may collect and process the following personal data about you:
Personal information, such as your full name, photograph, date of birth, gender and nationality.
Professional information, such as your professional experience, performance data, current, previous and best rankings, total and average points, performance rating points, unique tour player IDs, unique OWGR IDs, strokes gained world rating, events played, best performances and form guide.
Media data, for example photographs, images, videos, media and audio recordings of you.
We collect personal data of players from several sources:
- The Eligible Golf Tour events provide us with the full names of players participating in their events, the player’s nationality and date of birth and the results data from Eligible Golf Tour events that they organise. Occasionally, the Eligible Golf Tour may also provide a player’s personal contact information to allow OWGR to contact you directly.
- Occasionally, we may collect information about you from publicly available websites.
- If you have participated in an Eligible Golf Tour event, we may use photographs or videos of you from those events for the purposes of OWGR.
- We also use photographs of players that are provided by Eligible Golf Tours or that we purchase from photographers or from commercial providers of stock images, such as Getty Images.
- You may give us your name and contact details by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise.
How and why do we use your personal data?
To administer and publish, on a weekly basis, a ranking based on the relative performances of players participating in male Eligible Golf Tours worldwide.
We use personal data of players to:
- calculate and publish the OWGR Ranking on a weekly basis on the Website;
- publish player profiles on the Website;
- generate and publish statistics on players’ current and historic performance in the OWGR ranking including on their player profiles;
- publish news on the Website regarding the OWGR ranking and professional golf;
- maintain a record of the OWGR ranking and the results of golf events which are Eligible Golf Tour events. For these purposes, we will retain a copy of each OWGR ranking published each week and the results of golf events which are Eligible Golf Tour events;
- allow third parties to configure and embed our World’s Top 50 sharing widget into their websites or blogs; and
- allow users of the Website to compare players and to filter or re-order the entries on the OWGR ranking published on the Website according to ranking, country, name, average points, total points, events played (divisor) and events played (actual) of players.
Legal basis for using players’ personal data
The OWGR rankings are offered by us as a global service to golf. Through incorporation and assessment worldwide of Eligible Tour Events, the OWGR rankings encourage the international development of the competitive game of golf. The OWGR ranking endeavours to be a transparent, credible, and accurate ranking based on the relative performances of players participating in male Eligible Golf Tours worldwide.
The legal basis in the EU and the UK for processing the personal data of players is that the processing is necessary for the legitimate interests of OWGR and our operation, improvement and expansion of the OWGR rankings and the OWGR Website. The founder members of OWGR and the Eligible Tours (both as displayed on the OWGR Website), have a legitimate interest in promoting and developing the professional game. The objective for which OWGR is established is to devise, maintain, review, update, administer and promote the recognition of a system that fairly ranks the relative performances of male professional golfers participating in the leading professional golf tournaments throughout the world..
It is also necessary for our (and the public’s) legitimate interests to use players’ personal data to preserve the history of players’ performances and rankings in the professional game of golf. Retaining this personal data allows us to secure the permanent availability of a historical record of data for future legitimate purposes (whether commercial or non-commercial). These may include, by way of example, access by academics, researchers and others..
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you would like an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
Sharing your personal data
We make your personal data publicly available via the OWGR Website and the OWGR rankings.
We may share your personal data with the parties set out below.
- service providers who provide IT and administration services;
- professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers;
- Eligible Tours and other professional bodies;
- HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and others who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances;
- third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
How long do we keep your personal data?
We will retain your personal data indefinitely. We need to do this for the purposes of maintaining a record of the OWGR rankings and the results of Eligible Golf Tour events. For these purposes, we will retain a copy of each OWGR ranking published each week and the results of golf events which are Eligible Golf Tour events.
Security safeguards
Your personal information may be transferred to, and stored in, countries outside of the UK and EU for the purposes described in this policy. If we do this, we will take steps to ensure your personal information is adequately protected in countries outside of the UK and EU.
We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss, unauthorised access, unauthorised use, unauthorised alteration and unauthorised disclosure.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about our privacy policy, the information we hold about you or if you would like to exercise any of your rights described in this privacy policy, please contact us using the Contact Formhttps://www.owgr.com/contact-us at the bottom of this page, or alternatively, you can write to us at:
Official World Golf Ranking
European Tour Building
Wentworth Drive
Virginia Water
Surrey
GU25 4LX
United Kingdom.
Your rights
Data protection legislation in the EU and UK provides individuals with certain rights regarding the use of their personal data.
Subject access request
You have the right to access the personal information that we hold about you in many circumstances. This is called a subject access request. If we agree that we are obliged to provide personal information to you (or someone else on your behalf), we will provide it to you or them free of charge other than in exceptional circumstances. Please contact us if you would like to make a subject access request. Our details are set out above or you can use the Contact Form https://www.owgr.com/contact-us below.
Before providing personal information to you or another person on your behalf, we may ask for proof of identity and sufficient information about your interactions with us so that we can locate your personal information.
Deleting or correcting information
We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. If you would like us to delete or correct any information that we hold about you then please get in touch with us. Our details are set out above or you can use the Contact Form https://www.owgr.com/contact-us below. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your deletion request for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
Objecting to or restricting processing
You have the right to object to us processing your personal information if we are not entitled to use it any more, or to have your information deleted, or have its processing restricted in certain circumstances. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
Transfer
You also have the right to ask us to transfer your personal information in certain circumstances.
Withdrawing consent
If our processing is based on consent, you can withdraw your consent to our processing at any time. This will mean we will not process your personal information any more, but it will not affect the lawfulness of our processing carried out before you withdraw consent.. Please get in touch should you wish to discuss your personal information. Our details are set out above or you can use the Contact Form https://www.owgr.com/contact-us below.
Lodge a complaint
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance. Our details are set out above or you can use the Contact Form https://www.owgr.com/contact-us below.
Law enforcement
We fully co-operate with the police and other law enforcement agencies in identifying those who use our service for illegal activities. We reserve the right to report to the police or any other such agencies any activities that we reasonably believe to be unlawful.
EU representative
OWGR has appointed Saltire Data Protection Services Limited to act as its representative in the European Union as required under Article 27 of the EU GDPR. You can always contact OWGR directly if you are located in the EU and wish to raise any issues or queries relating to the processing of your personal data. However, if you wish to contact Saltire Data Protection Services Limited you can do so by clicking this link to a contact form - https://app.saltiredataprotection.eu/enquiry/rs/OWGR.
